Never a conservative majority- Letters to the editor

Thanks go out to Tom McCourt for the Einstein quote about insanity: "Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

I like another Einstein statement for the situation cited about Senator Hatch.

"A man should look for what is, and not for what he thinks should be."

Here is something to look at in a couple of crisis issues. Like it or not the Senate runs on seniority, and Senator Hatch has plenty of that. He is in line to be chairman of the finance committee, and that is very significant position in this time of financial emergency.

For all of the years Hatch has been in the Senate there has never been a "conservative" majority in congress. When he had been there just two years he introduced a Balanced Budget Amendment. Similar proposals were introduced four times, including 1997 when it came within a single vote of the needed two-thirds majority for a Constitutional Amendment.

This past year both of our senators, Hatch and Lee, received a 100 percent rating from the American Conservative Union. There were only 10 perfect ratings given for the entire country, and our senators were both selected. These two senators and Mitt Romney have pledged their united support to pass that amendment, providing they get the opportunity by getting our votes in the coming election.

On another issue, we are well aware here in Utah, that in some ways it is "Washington vs. the West" in the struggle over the public lands. Senator Hatch has said that "the BLM is oppressive. Where there used to be one BLM employee per county, now there are 60 of them."

In 1977, as a brand new Senator, he signed on to support land transfer legislation. That bill went nowhere, so in 1979 he introduced a bill to transfer 400 million acres located in 13 Western States from management by the U.S. Forest Service and BLM to state ownership. President Reagan in 1980 said, "I happen to be one who cheers and supports the Sagebrush rebellion. Count me in as a rebel."

Senator Hatch has been called the original 'T Party' guy.

Now there is a strong legal movement of many legislators, governors, attorneys general, and citizens who are joining up with Senator Hatch to pressure the federal government into turning the ownership of the public lands over to state ownership as was promised by the Statehood Enabling Act clause that should have become effective more than 100 years ago. We are being robbed of our ability to make a living off the land by restrictive federal ownership.

I hope that my 50 years of trying to vote out the 'spend yourself rich' crowd and finally hoping to get some fiscal conservatives in power doesn't qualify me for the insanity label.
Jerry B. Anderson
Price